SCUBA DIVING WITH SEA LIONS

This adventure is carried out at the Natural Reserve of Punta Loma, 30 minutes away from Puerto Madryn. We’ll reach the place after an outstanding navigation witnessing the most typical patagonic scenery.
Once we get there, where there’s a stable population of around 600 single-fured sea lions, we’ll be in the water along 45 minutes we’ll enjoy our time snorkeling with this friendly and curious marine mammals.
The interaction achieved in our Reserve between human beings and the sea lions has no precedent all over the world and this fact is due to a natural characteristic of this kind of sea lion which is its friendliness and another important reason is that within the Golfo Nuevo (New Gulf) they don’t have predators. And because of being a stable population, this excursion can be done every day all over the year, which means that these marine mammals interact with people since they are born.

Scuba Diving

For scuba diving with the sea lions, it is required to be a certified diver, or, in case you are not certified but you yet want to dive with the animals, the option you have is to go ahead with diving training program named Discover Scuba Diving. Within this program you’ll learn six of the twenty main skills learnt during the first diving course, Open Water Diver and can be done in only one day giving you the chance to have your first diving experience with these amazing animals.

About Punta Loma Natural Reserve

The Provincial Natural Reserve of Punta Loma was created in 1967. Located 17km away from Puerto Madryn, was established to protect the only stable population of single-fured sea lions from the zone. Strict regulations protect the habitat and the animals themselves which keepers and biologists, besides the commitment of every diving center, enforce every time we get into the water. This is why there can’t be more than 18 people in the water at the same time or more than three boats within Reserve waters. Moreover, we can’t approach more than 50 mts from the shore. All the time spent in the water (45 minutes) is fully surveilled for the keepers that from the hills are checking that every rule is respected. Severe sanctions are imposed for those that violate the rules. In this way, are the animals the ones that approach to ourselves and is up to them how many, in which way and how long they’ll stay with us. We don’t decide on nature and of course that the sea lions are neither trained nor feeded. In this protected area is also possible to enjoy the presence of cormorants and southamerican gulls, between other marine and earth birds. Is because of all this facts that the environment in which we’ll carry out our adventure, astonishes us with an undescriptible beauty that goes beyond the unforgettable experience of playing with wild animals.